Short-Term Memory

Here are the first two paragraphs from a fascinating 2003 story in the New York Times, under the headline,"New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae":

"The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

"Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry."

Read the rest of the story here. Be sure to note Barney Frank's comments about how people are exaggerating the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.